Fabrication of Si1-xGex alloy nanowire field-effect transistors

The authors present the demonstration of nanowire field-effect transistors incorporating group IV alloy nanowires, Si1-xGex. Single-crystalline Si1-xGex alloy nanowires were grown by a Au catalyst-assisted chemical vapor synthesis using SiH4 and GeH4 precursors, and the alloy composition was reproducibly controlled in the whole composition range by controlling the kinetics of catalytic decomposition of precursors. Complementary in situ doping of Si1-xGex nanowires was achieved by PH3 and B2H6 incorporation during the synthesis for n- and p-type field-effect transistors. The availability of both n- and p-type Si1-xGex nanowire circuit components suggests implications for group IV semiconductor nanowire electronics and optoelectronics. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.